Standards of care for patients with spondyloarthritis.

To define and give priory to standards of care in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA). A systematic literature review on SpA standards of care and a specific search in relevant and related sources was performed. An expert panel was established who developed the standards of care and graded their priority (high, mild, low, or no priority) following qualitative methodology and Delphi process. An electronic survey was sent to a representative sample of 167 rheumatologists all around the country, who also gave priority to the standards of care (same scale). A descriptive analysis is presented. The systematic literature review retrieved no article specifically related to SpA patients. A total of 38 standards of care were obtained-12 related to structure, 20 to process, and 6 to result. Access to care, treatment, and safety standards of care were given a high priority by most of rheumatologists. Standards not directly connected to daily practice were not given such priority, as standards which included a time framework. The standards generated for the performance evaluation (including patient and professionals satisfaction) were not considered especially important in general. This set of standards of care should help improve the quality of care in SpA patients.

Bone mineral density status and frequency of osteoporosis and clinical fractures in 155 patients with psoriatic arthritis followed in a university hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the bone mineral density (BMD) and the frequency of osteoporosis and clinical fractures in a large group of Spanish patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: BMD was determined by DXA in all the patients who were willing to participate and had peripheral PsA regularly evaluated in a tertiary university hospital. All patients underwent a physical examination and general laboratory analysis. We gathered demographic and clinical variables related with BMD and risk of fractures. We also recorded the history of clinical low impact fractures. The population of reference to calculate T-score and Z-score came from a Spanish database. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-five patients were included (64 postmenopausal women, 26 premenopausal women and 65 men). The clinical forms of PsA were: 46% oligoarticular and 54% polyarticular. Mean disease duration was 13.7±9.4 years and mean ESR was 21.8±13.9mm/h; 66% of patients had received glucocorticoid treatment. We found no differences in BMD status between the patients and the Spanish general population, neither in the whole series nor in each defined subgroup. Frequency of osteoporosis was 16%; it was higher in postmenopausal women (28%) than in men (9%) or premenopausal women (4%). Frequency of clinical fractures was 13%; it accounted specially in postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS: The magnitude of the problem of osteoporosis in PsA seems to be mild.